Such support started in the 1950s. At first, cadres from education departments as well as teachers from Beijing, Tianjin and Sichuan went to Tibet to engage in educational work. In 1983, the central government spent money establishing Tibet Junior Middle School Classes in well-conditioned middle schools in 16 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government as well as two Tibet Middle Schools, one in Beijing and the other in Chengdu. Students of Tibet classes (schools) in the hinterland can go on to schools of a higher grade after an examination-based selection process and go back to Tibet to work upon graduation. At present, Tibet classes (schools) number 150 and are distributed in 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, with a combined enrollment of 10,000. Support for education in Tibet from provinces also comes in the following forms: provision of fund, instruments/facilities and books; training of teachers and managerial personnel; and sending teachers to Tibet to work on a temporary basis.
        Since 1990, more than 80 institutions of higher learning outside Xinjiang have turned out over 8,0000 graduates of ethnic minority origin for the central Asian region, and trained a number of graduate students and college teachers as well as more than 700 factory directors and managers for the region. Relevant departments of the State Council are considering opening Xinjiang classes outside the region and organizing economically developed provinces and cities to increase aid for education in Xinjiang.
        Over the years, pairs of provinces, regions and municipalities directly under the central government have established a fairly stable supporter-recipient relationship in the field of education. The supporter group includes Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hebei, Jiangsu and Shandong; and the recipient group includes Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Ningxia, Gansu, Guizhou, Guangxi, Xinjiang and Qinghai. The supporter provinces and cities have been supporting education in ethnic minority regions by providing fund, donating instruments and facilities, training managerial personnel and key teachers and providing guidance over teaching reform.